The Pink Star Could Be the World’s Most Expensive Diamond…Again

March 24, 2017September 21, 2017

This photo of The Pink Star gives a good perspective of the diamond’s physical size.

A 59.60-carat Fancy Vivid Pink diamond is poised to become the most expensive diamond ever auctioned when it comes up for sale next month. Sotheby’s Hong Kong will auction “The Pink Star,” an Internally Flawless stone, at its Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale on April 4. This is the second time The Pink Star has hit the Sotheby’s auction block in less than four years.

The ultra-rare pink diamond was sold by Sotheby’s in 2013 for a world-record $83.2 million, but the buyer, diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, defaulted on the payment and the diamond was returned to the auction house. Sotheby’s continued to hold it in its inventory at a value of $72 million.

The Time Is Right

According to David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division, demand is strong right now for investment-quality diamonds, especially the rarest of the rare.

“The extraordinary size of this 59.60-carat diamond, paired with its richness of color, surpasses any known pink diamond recorded in history,” said Bennett in statement from the auction house.

From the Sotheby’s Catalog

“Sotheby’s is proud to present the magnificent Pink Star, one of the world’s great natural treasures. The largest Internally Flawless, Fancy Vivid Pink diamond that the GIA has ever graded, this 59.60-carat diamond is a true masterpiece of nature.”

A New World Record?

The Pink Star Diamond.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong has estimated that The Pink Star will fetch “in excess of $60 million” on April 4. If it achieves that price it will break the world record held by The Oppenheimer Blue, a 14.62-carat blue diamond which sold for $57.5 million last year at rival auction house Christie’s.

The world record in the pink diamond category is held by The Graff Pink, a 24.78-carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond auctioned at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2010 for $45.75 million.

Many collectors and diamond experts are betting that The Pink Star will far exceed its $60 million estimate when the hammer falls in Hong Kong. But will it reach the 2013 mark of $83.2 million? Only time will tell.